By Creative Media Times

Aoi Pro, Inc.

The family drama, which was also scripted and edited by Kore-eda, tells the story of an impoverished Japanese family who reply on shoplifting to cope with their life.

The Cannes Film Festival is one of the world’s most renowned, with winners eventually picking up more trophies during the year’s award season. It would be interesting to see if “Shoplifters” take a similar path.

This year’s festival run from May 8 to 19, with the competition jury headed by Cate Blanchett. Asghar Farhadi’s psychological thriller “Everybody Knows” starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem opened the festival.

Here’s some of the festival winners announced on Saturday night:

Palme d’Or:
“Shoplifters” directed by Hirokazu Kore-Eda

Special Palme d’Or:
Jean-Luc Godard for “The Image Book”

Best Actress:
Samal Yeslyamova for “Ayka”

Best Actor:
Marcello Fonte for “Dogman”

Best Director:
Pawel Pawlikowski for “Cold War”

Jury Prize:
“Capernaum” directed by Nadine Labaki

To see the full list, head over to Cannes website.

Acclaimed actors, filmmakers, movie executives, and journalists will be among those featured during the upcoming “Industry In Focus” Series and “In Conversation” programming at The American Pavilion at the 2018 Cannes International Film Festival, it was announced by Julie Sisk, Founder and Director of The American Pavilion (www.ampav.com).

The American Pavilion’s discussions and one-on-one in conversations take place in the Roger Ebert Conference Center and are open to all AmPav members.

Exciting panels and In Conversation events include filmmakers and stars of films ARCTIC, BEST F(R)IENDS, BLACKKKLANSMAN, HOUSE OF CARDIN, LEAVE NO TRACE, RAFIKI, SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY, UNDER THE SILVER LAKE, THE EYES OR ORSON WELLES, WHITNEY, WILDLIFE and many more.

Programming includes executives and moderators fromCinetic Media, CSA, Focus Features, Gunpowder & Sky, IFC Midnight, ICM, IMDb, Indiewire, Pinewood Atlanta Studios, Roadside Attractions, SAG-AFTRA, Screen International, SingularDTV, Submarine, Sundance Film Festival among other notable speakers.
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By Armando

United Artists

Forman won an Oscar for helming “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” considered by many film critics, historians and film buffs as one of the best films ever made. The film won the so-called “Big Five” categories at academy awards in 1976, winning best director, best picture, best actor for Jack Nicholson, best actress for Louise Fletcher, and best adapter screenplay for Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman.

The film joins “It Happened One Night” (1934) and “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991) as the only three films to achieve such feat. “Cuckoo’s Nest” was later selected by the United States Library of Congress in 1993 for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Nine years after ‘Cuckoo’s Nest’, Forman collected his second best director Oscar award for Amadeus, a fictionalized biography of prolific and influential composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

In 1997, Milos Forman had another shot at Academy Award best director trophy when he was nominated for “The People vs. Larry Flynt,” a biographicl drama chronicling 35 years of the life of adult magazine publisher and editor Larry Flynt. Though Forman did not win, the film was critically acclaimed and won numerous awards and nominations.

In spite of all his international acclaim throughout those years, Forman’s biography was not an easy journey.

Born in Čáslav, Czechoslovakia (currently known as Czech Republic), the director was an orphan of Nazi Holocaust victims. After living with relatives, he later discovered that his biological father was in fact a survivor of the Holocaust and living in Peru.

He was known primarily as a Czech filmmaker until he moved to America in 1968. His first film in the United States “Taking Off” was a flop and critically panned. It wasn’t until he was hired by producers Michael Douglas and Saul Zaentz to direct “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” that he finally found his footing.

Forman was initially apprehensive about his immigrant background not being able to give justice to the story’s very American sentiments.

But it was precisely that background which provided him unique inspiration.

“To me it was not just literature but real life, the life I lived in Czechoslovakia from my birth in 1932 until 1968. The Communist Party was my Nurse Ratched, telling me what I could and could not do; what I was or was not allowed to say; where I was and was not allowed to go; even who I was and was not.”

By Creative Media Times

Well this certainly makes it official. According a report in Variety, streaming giant Netflix will not be screening any of its films at the festival.

“We want our films to be on fair ground with every other filmmaker,” says Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer. “There’s a risk in us going in this way and having our films and filmmakers treated disrespectfully at the festival. They’ve set the tone. I don’t think it would be good for us to be there.”

Though stunning, the decision isn’t surprising as there has been speculation in the past few days that Netflix would not be participating. This comes after last year’s controversy at Cannes where two Netflix films, Bong Joon-ho’s “Okja” and Noah Baumbach’s “The Meyerowitz Stories” played at the festival and competed for the Palme d’Or, but did not play in the cinemas in France, something which French theater exhibitors reportedly protested against.

Shortly after last year’s opening ceremonies, the festival changed its rules which states that that no movies will be play in competition if they’re not committed to be released in French theaters.

Last month, festival director Thierry Fremaux said that Netflix could play their films outside of competition, though effectively ineligible to play in the competition for refusing theatrical distribution in France.

“I don’t think there would be any reason to go out of competition. The rule was implicitly about Netflix, and Thierry made it explicitly about Netflix when he announced the rule,” Sarandos tells Variety.

Cannes Film Festival will run from May 8 to 19, with the competition jury headed by Cate Blanchett. Asghar Farhadi’s psychological thriller “Everybody Knows” starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem is scheduled to open the festival.